Two Van Gogh paintings auctioned for over €11 million in New York

Two paintings by Vincent van Gogh were auctioned off by Sotheby's in New York for a total of 11.6 million euros on Wednesday. The paintings both sold for more than the auction house expected.

The first painting, titled People Strolling in a Park in Paris painted in 1886, sold for 9,717,700 US dollars, or 8.8 million euros. Sotheby's expected it to raise between 5 million and 7 million dollars. The painting was put up for auction by a Swiss eye doctor, according to NOS.

The other painting was painted in 1883 and shows a farmer burning weeds in Drenthe. It sold for 3,14 million US dollars, or 2.8 million euros. The auction house expected it to sell for between 600 thousand and 800 thousand dollars. This painting came into the hands of the Amsterdam art dealer Jacques Goudstikker in the 1930s. After he died in the 1940s, it fell into the possession of the German occupier. It was recently returned to Goudstikker's daughter-in-law.